The Reception's Been Canceled

by sister_mike

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash was secretly impressed by Derpy. After forty-five minutes of walking and complaining about her wing, she finally gave in and let Derpy bind it.

While Derpy always seemed to be tripping over her feet, knocking something over or causing lightning to strike when it wasn't supposed to, she was surprisingly steady with her hooves. Rainbow Dash had been expecting a disaster, but Derpy did a tremendous job. She carefully bound the wing, taking caution so as not to accidently bump it and cause Rainbow Dash pain.

When she was done, the wing didn't hurt any more. Rainbow Dash had been wrong about Derpy. She was a pony who knew what she was doing, even if she was super accident prone. And that muffin she gave her earlier? Delish.

Daylight was softly breaking as they approached Ponyville. They oddly enough had had no encounters with any changelings since they had teamed up.

"It's sad to see Ponyville so quiet," Derpy said quietly.

As they walked further into the town, Derpy seemed to wince every time she caught sight of one of the pods.

"Don't worry Derpy," Rainbow Dash said, "We'll save them."

"I hope so," Derpy said. She kept looking at the pods as they passed them by, and continued to wince every time.

Rainbow Dash sighed. Yes, it was disturbing to see so many familiar looking ponies hanging in pods from within houses and shops, and outside under awnings and trees, but there was nothing they could do now.

"Derpy, if it bothers you so much, stop looking at the pods," Rainbow Dash said. Derpy didn't say anything. She kept looking at pods as they walked by.

"I can't," she finally said. Rainbow Dash winced herself as she passed by City Hall, the Mayor hanging in a pod outside, fear on her face. Rainbow Dash looked away.

"Why not?" she asked. She looked back over her shoulder to see Derpy peering into a window. "Derpy, come on. We need to go to the library; it's the most logical place Twilight will try and find us."

Derpy didn't listen. She looked through the window, and then moved onto the shop beside it.

It hit Rainbow Dash then—Derpy was looking for someone. She kept looking at the pods on purpose and would squint because she was a compassionate pony. But she was looking for someone.

"Derpy, are you looking for someone?" Rainbow Dash asked. Derpy sighed, a small cry coming out.

"Yes," she said quietly, moving to the next shop, "my sister."

Rainbow Dash was taken aback.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Rainbow Dash said.

"She's just a filly. She was staying at a friend's house when the changings—changelings, attacked," Derpy said. She sighed again. "I need to find her Rain-bow Dash."

"Were your parents with her?" Rainbow Dash asked. Derpy shook her head.

"Don't have any parents," she said, looking into a house.

Be patient. Rainbow Dash walked over and put her hoof on Derpy's shoulder.

"It'll be ok Derpy. We'll find her. But first, we need to go meet up with Twilight and the others. We need to stop the changelings and save Equestria first. Then we will free all the trapped ponies. Now, you can continue to look for your sister, but.." Be patient. Patient. "..but I think we should stick together. You need to come to the library and stay with us. We need you as part of our team."

Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash with a look that Rainbow Dash couldn't quite place. It was a mixture between shock, gratitude and sadness.

"You.. you want me to help?" Derpy asked. Rainbow Dash sighed. Be patient. Celestia's words wouldn't leave her mind. She nodded. Derpy did a little bouncy jump.

"O-K Rain-bow Dash! We'll stick together! We can find Muffin later," Derpy said.

"Muffin's your sister's name?" Rainbow Dash asked. Derpy nodded.

"When she was born, my mum let me name her," she said proudly. Rainbow Dash tried not to roll her eyes. Be patient
.

They were closer to the library than Rainbow Dash had thought. When they reached it, the door was slightly ajar.

"I'll go inside first Derpy. You stay out here. Tell me if you see anything," Rainbow Dash said. She pushed the door open. Derpy put her hoof on her shoulder.

"No; what if there are changings inside?" Derpy said, "We should stick together, remember? Just like you said Rain-bow Dash."

Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Ok," she said, lowering her voice, "but let me go in first. Try not to make any noise."

Derpy nodded and let her go. Rainbow Dash nudged the door open a bit further and cautiously stepped inside.

It was dark inside. The rising daylight from outside was weak—there was no sun—and it didn't help to illuminate the library. The place was a mess. There were books everywhere, tables overturned, pages scattering the floor.

Something sounded upstairs.

"Did you hear that Rain-bow Dash?" Derpy whispered, a little louder than she should have. The noise stopped. A soft whispering floated from upstairs.

"Shhh," Rainbow Dash said. "Stay here."

Rainbow Dash quietly walked up the stairs. The door was open a sliver. She took a deep breath, planning her next move. Holding her breath, she kicked the door open and burst into the room. Before she could even get a good look around, something hit her hard in the face. She smacked into the wall, her vision spinning.

"Wait! It's Rainbow Dash!"

"How do you know it's not a changeling?"

Rainbow Dash recognized the voices. Her head still swimming, she put up a hoof in defense.

"It's me Applejack, it's me. Please don't hit me again Big Mac, I'm not a changeling, I promise," she said. She slumped to the floor, closing her eyes for a second.

"Sorry 'bout that," Applejack said, helping Rainbow Dash up, "Big Mac isn't taking any chances any more—Granny Smith is dead."

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. She immediately pulled Applejack into a hug. Applejack was the one pony she was closest too, and the one pony she wasn't afraid of being mushy and clingy with. She just never showed it around the others. They wouldn't understand her feelings; sometimes she didn't understand them herself.

"I'm so sorry AJ," she said softly. Applejack croaked and sniffed, but quickly pulled away and wiped her tears away.

"It's not the right time to mourn; it'll be better once this madness is all sorted out," Applejack said. Something crashed downstairs. Big Mac glared at the door.

"Hold it Big Mac, it's just Derpy," Rainbow Dash said, pushing him aside. "You ok Derpy?"

"Yeah, I'm O-K Rain-bow Dash! Just knocked over the telescope!" Derpy shouted back.

"Derpy? As in Derpy Hooves?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Celestia's giving me a lesson in patience," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. She then sighed. "But Derpy did save my life, so it's a lesson I'm willing to stick out. The poor pony; she ran as soon as the changelings attacked Cloudsdale. She was hiding in a cave, but came out and saved me. She somehow got rid of the changeling that chased me there. I'm not sure whether she killed it or knocked it out—I never asked, but it never came back in to disturb us."

"Wow," Applejack said.

"Yeah. She also bound my wing; a changeling sprained it, so I can't fly too well at the moment. I couldn't just leave her behind; Celestia didn't want me to. She gave me another message as I walked through the door. 'Be patient'. So that's what I'm doing. Derpy's sticking with us. She's here to find her sister, who's somewhere in Ponyville, probably in a pod," Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack cried again, trying to hold back her tears. This was so unlike her. She was usually strong, like Rainbow Dash. Obviously Granny Smith's death had done a toll on her.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm sorry; it's just hearin' you say sister. We don't know where Apple Bloom is. I tried searchin' for her while we were in the palace, just so I'd know where she was, but I didn't see her there. I'm just so.. I'm just havin' such a hard time," Applejack said.

"It's ok," Rainbow Dash said softly. She hugged Applejack again, and let her cry on her shoulder for a short while.

When Applejack finally pulled away, Rainbow Dash asked, "So how long have you been in Ponyville? I assume you were originally sent to the farm."

"We got here maybe an hour, hour and a half ago; we figured Twilight would want us to meet here, in the library," Applejack said. Rainbow Dash nodded.

"That's what I figured too."

"After a half hour of waitin', Big Mac went out and searched Ponyville a bit, in case y'all went somewhere else. He says everypony is in them pods. We haven't seen or heard from the others yet; I don't know how far away they were sent or anything. It's makin' me nervous. But we did notice that there's none of that green cloud coming from the Everfree Forest. Big Mac also said the changelings don't like to go in there. We were thinkin' of going in and checking it out. Zecora might be in there, all snug and safe. Lord knows we could use her help. We could come back in shifts to Ponyville to see if anypony else has shown up," Applejack said.

"It'd be safer than waiting here," Big Mac piped in.

"Sounds like a plan," Rainbow Dash said.

The three of them walked downstairs. Derpy was straightening out the telescope she had knocked over.

"Derpy, you know Applejack. And this is her brother Big McIntosh. We're going to go into the Everfree Forest; the changelings can't get us there," Rainbow Dash said.

"O-K Rain-bow Dash... but we'll come back and save Muffin later right?" she asked.

"Of course we will sugar cube; we're looking for our little sister too," Applejack said, putting her arm around Derpy.

"O-K... you guys want some muffins?"

Applejack laughed softly, as Big Mac took the lead and they began to head towards the Everfree Forest.

Comments

[sister_mike]

Ok guys! Sort of a rushed chapter, but I just wanted to get it out of the way and for them to meet up
Sorry if you feel cheated that I didn't write out AJ and Big Mac's short walk from the farm to Ponyville. I assure you they'll all get their proper air time

[DreadedCandiru2]

Next up, I should think we'd get Twilight making the scene.

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

Yay another awesome chapter. I loved the touching moments between rainbow and aj. Aj will be so happy to see applebloom when they get to zecoras. The group is almost back together. Still no spike yet!

[mbpony 512]

Great update I still cannot wait to see how Rainbow Dash takes the news of Scootaloo's death.

Great spotlight on Derpy and Rainbow Dash in this chapter.

Nice update and reunion between friends/rivals. I can't wait to read more of this story.

[Isshiki Kotonashi]

cdn.derpiboo.ru/media/BAhbBlsHOgZmSSJLMjAxMi8wNy8wMS8wN181OV8wNF81NzRfMjcxNjFfX3NhZmVfc2Nvb3RhbG9vX2ltYWdlX21hY3JvX3N0YXJlX211cmRlcgY6BkVU/27161__safe_scootaloo_image-macro_murder_stare.jpg

[ctzmsc3]

"she was surprisingly steady with her hands."
Ponies don't have hands, I think.

[sister_mike]

1395692
Thank you for noticing! Fixed!
Sometimes I get too into the writing and forget to be extra special about all of the pony-isms.